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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Ruby Flanagan

Martin Lewis verdict on interest rate hike as 'help is desperately needed'

Martin Lewis shared a warning that some mortgage holders could see rates of over 9% after the Bank of England's interest rate rise today.

The Money Saving Expert shared his reaction to the 0.5 percentage point interest rate rise to 5% on Twitter today.

Martin, who isn't usually short on words, told his followers that he wasn't sure how to react to the news "at this time" but said the Bank of England's "one trick method" was causing "huge pain" to many people on variable mortgages.

He also noted the struggle those who are coming off their fixed rate were set to face.

He told his followers that they also need to spare a thought to mortgage prisoners who had been paying "over the odds" for 15 years and were now facing "totally unaffordable" 9% mortgages.

The Money Saving Expert said that help was "desperately" needed for these people.

In his tweets, he said: "It's very hard to know how to react to a 0.5% increase in rates at this time.

"Clearly we must tackle inflation, but this one trick method is causing huge pain to many on variable & coming off fixed rate mortgages

"Plus spare a thought for #mortgageprisoners who've been paying over the odds for 15 years. Many will now have totally unaffordable 9% mortgages. Help for them is desperately needed."

Mortgage prisoners took out loans before the 2008 financial crisis – when lending rules were not as tight – with lenders that went on to fail such as Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.

Many of the loans were sold to firms that are not mortgage lenders and are not able to offer them cheaper products – leaving these borrowers trapped on very high rates - which will only go higher after the interest rate rise today.

Earlier this week, Martin said that the "mortgage ticking time bomb" he had warned about in December last year had now "exploded" and the UK was "scrambling" about what it could do.

Yesterday, Martin was asked to join the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for a meeting to discuss the help that could be made available to those struggling with their mortgage payments.

In a tweet he shared about the meeting, the Money Saving Expert said he had spoke about the "need for banks not to ramp up margins" and for "proper forbearance" to be made.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will meet with mortgage lenders on Friday to urge them to do all they can for borrowers struggling with high home loans.

The discussions are expected to cover a range of options such as mortgage holidays, extending terms to lower monthly payments and switching to interest-only payments.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to consider a mortgage protection fund to help households struggling to cope with rising mortgage payments.

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